Nicholas Stern Outlines Proposal for Global Deal on Climate Change

After helping spark a substantive conversation on the economics of climate change with the release of his seminal report in 2006, Sir Nicholas Stern is back with a new report, entitled "Key Elements of a Global Deal on Climate Change," in which he paints an even bleaker of the potential risks posed by inaction. Acknowledging that his previous report may have underestimated the threat of climate change, he is now calling on developed nations to cut their emissions by 80% by 2050 and on developing nations to agree to binding targets by 2020.To prevent catastrophic climate change, global emissions levels would need to peak within the next 15 years; they should then be halved from 1990 levels to 20 billion tons a year by 2050 and cut further to 10 billion tons thereafter -- the ultimate goal being to get annual per capita emissions to just 2 tons.

Though he argued developing nations should receive more time to prepare realistic emissions targets, he plainly stated that they too would need to shoulder some of the burden -- and that any firm targets would need to be in place by 2020. The rich nations should help them get there by providing financial and technological assistance, in addition to investing in clean energy projects under the CDM mechanism established by the Kyoto Protocol.

Speaking to an audience at the London School of Economics, Stern said humanity should aim for a stabilization target of 500 ppm, which would only allow for a further 2 degree rise. During his talk, he laid out the new report's key elements as follows:

1. Emissions targets globally and for rich countries.2. The role of developing countries in mitigation and trading.3. International emissions trading.4. Financing emissions reductions from deforestation.5. Technology.6. Adaptation in developing countries